Junta airstrike on school in Arakan state kills 18

At least 18 civilians, including children, were killed and 20 others injured on Friday after Myanmar’s military junta carried out an airstrike on a private boarding school in Thayat Tabin Village, Kyauktaw Township, located in the Arakan Army-controlled region of Rakhine State, according to reports from the Irrawaddy news outlet.

The attack on the school, situated in western Myanmar’s restive Arakan State, has drawn widespread condemnation amid ongoing ethnic armed conflicts that have escalated since the military seized power in 2021.

The junta has been engaged in fierce battles with various ethnic armed groups, including the Arakan Army, which controls significant parts of Rakhine State.

Despite the continuing violence and humanitarian crisis, the military government has announced plans to hold general elections on December 28 later this year, raising concerns over the legitimacy and safety of the electoral process under such conditions.